Why Starbucks’s bias training, despite skepticism, is an important start

Starbucks temporarily shut 8,000 stores for four hours Tuesday afternoon to conduct racial bias training for its employees. It follows an incident in Philadelphia last month in which two black men were arrested simply for waiting in a store.

The training program, if it is effective, will start a dialogue among some 175,000 employees. The hope is that they will continue the conversation in stores, at home and among their family and friends for days, weeks and months, multiplying the impact. That’s called a start.